Speaking Your Way to
Success
By Monique HarrisAccording to a survey by Trend Trackers
2000, a consulting firm in Los Angeles,
California, fear of speaking in front of crowds
is the second most popular phobia among business
people. This is in spite of the fact that those
in the communications consulting industry grossed
over $150 million dollars last year.
So what does this mean to those
business folks who aren't afraid to talk their
talk on stage? Why good news of course. Good
speakers are acknowledged as experts in their
fields, thus obtaining customers becomes easier.
Plus they can count on making as much as $500,000
more each year on speaking engagements, in
addition to their regular businesses. And lastly,
speaking is one of the cheapest, yet most
effective marketing methods you can employ. You
can cover much more ground by holding a
mini-seminar for 25 prospects, instead of seeing
each one individually.
Below you'll find several tips
for speaking your way to new business. And for
those of you who can't stand the thought of
speaking in front of a crowd, this first one's
for you:
-
- Send Prospects Audio
Seminars. You fidget, jingle the change
in your pocket, twist in your hair or tap
your foot when faced with the task of
giving a speech in front of some people.
A simple solution for you is to send out
an audio cassette with your own
mini-seminar on it, to prospects.
Think about it, everybody sends
out direct mailings. But often times they
just get trashed by their receivers.
People will rarely throw out an envelope
that has something in it like a cassette.
The curiosity factor just gets the best
of them. Even if they just browse through
the rest of your materials, they'll be
60% more likely to listen to at least
half of a cassette.
You can use any
previously written articles that you've
done. Or if you've written a book, report
or newsletter, you can use this material
as well.
Whatever you do, make
sure that it's 98% information you record
or people won't listen to it all the way
through. And should you develop a series
of five or more audio cassettes, you can
always sell them for extra revenue.
- Sign-up With Existing
Seminar Companies. If you already have an
interesting idea for a seminar, but you
don't want to take the risk of laying out
your own money to promote it, why not
sign-up with an existing seminar company.
You come to the
table with your expertise, they do
everything else from promoting it,
handling registrations, travel and so on.
You may be required to sign some sort of
contract saying that you will only
present your seminar through their
company and you may also be on the road a
lot, but most presenters make between
$50,000-100,000 a year and upwards
depending on the topic.
- Offer Free Talks to
Chambers of Commerce. Most Chambers offer
a selection of meetings, expo's and talks
throughout the year, however many are
starved for quality speakers.
It helps if you're already a
member, however you can still pitch your
idea without being one. An advantage of
being a member though is that you will
receive a membership directory listing
all the member's names, companies,
addresses and so on. This is an excellent
tool for building a mailing list and
sending out follow-up materials after
your presentation.
- Sponsor Your Own Free
Seminars. People enjoy going to seminars,
but even better, they love going to free
seminars! Offering a free seminar can be
the perfect open door for selling your
products and services as well.
Most free seminars are only an
hour or two in length and it helps if you
have some sort of light finger foods like
cookies and coffee. You can offer your
seminar at a local hotel or at your
office. There are also office support
centers in many areas that rent out
conference rooms by the hour. I happen to
live in an apartment complex that has its
own community center which they rent out
by the hour. Many apartment, condominium
and townhouse complexes also have a
similar type of center.
Be sure to have some
sort of hand-out for your attendees. This
can be a summary of your talk along with
any promotional information about your
company. And spare some time after your
seminar to chat with your audience.
People sometimes have questions that they
don't necessarily want to express in
front the entire audience.
- Teach a Class. In almost
every community there are at least one or
two community colleges, and in larger
cities there are also adult education
centers like the franchised Learning
Annex. These centers of learning are
always on the look-out for quality
teachers. Simply call them up and request
a catalog of classes to see if your topic
is already taken.
Although these teaching
positions typically don't pay much, they
do offer excellent exposure. Underneath
the description of the class there's
usually of brief bio of the teacher. This
bio can include company name, any recent
accomplishments, prominent clients, books
or publications written and so on.
Sometimes people who
can't attend your class will still
contact you and use your services based
solely on that bio. Sometimes the bio
alone can bring in just as much, if not
more, business than actually teaching the
class!
Although the typical credo
among business people is that it takes money to
make make money, by using your speaking skills to
enhance your marketing efforts you can easily
increase your profits without breaking the bank.
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FREEWare Content online.
-- Monique
Harris, that's me, is the president of Marketing
Moguls, a Greenbelt, Maryland based marketing and
public relations firm for businesses and authors
who want to market their products and services
both on and offline. I am also the author of
"How to Make Yourself Famous in 6 Months or
Less," which offers dozens of revenue
enhancing promotional tactics from the mundane to
the outrageous. If you should have any marketing,
promotional or public relations questions, please
feel free to drop me an e-mail. You can reach me
via e-mail at: monique@connectionbank.com.
Stay amazing
folks!
Monique
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